Friday, February 26, 1999
Three wrestlers take unbeaten records to district
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer contributor
The records say they have the highest hopes going into this weekend's district wrestling tournaments.
Purcell Marian senior heavyweight Steve Williams, Ross 130-pound junior Aaron Ray and Madeira 103-pound freshman Kris Kuykendall are undefeated going into their respective district tournaments, which start today at three sites.
Two seniors, Winton Woods's Matt Thompson (189 pounds) and Lockland's Gerald Gertz (140), were undefeated until losing in their sectional finals last weekend.
Thompson will compete in the Division I district tournament at Fairfield High School; Williams and Ray will wrestle in the Division II tournament at Wilmington High School; and Kuykendall and Gertz have qualified for the Division III tournament at Xenia High School.
Many wrestlers believe being unbeaten this late in the season only makes them more of a target, and while they feel a certain amount of pride in the accomplishment, they tend to downplay it — or have it downplayed for them.
“It works both ways, one loss vs. no losses,” said Terry Meinking, coach of the 32-0 Williams. “Our perspective when we've had other kids who were undefeated was to work against the big head. We don't make a big deal out of it. We try to downplay it.
“Steve is a real down-to-earth kid. I don't think it bothers him. He's got his little mission in his head about where he wants to go. He's wrestling just as hard now as he was 20 matches ago, and he's wrestling better now than he did at the Coaches Classic.”
Ray (26-0) considers his record no more than an indication of where he's been, not where he's going.
“Really, at this point in the season, when it comes down to the district and state, everything in the past is gone,” he said. “Your record don't mean anything. It might give your opponents some motivation, but that's not my frame of mind.”
Kuykendall (29-0) embraces being undefeated.
“I would say it probably motivates me,” he said. “I love it.”
Thompson, who fell to 25-1, was hurt more by the timing of the loss than the defeat. If he'd been able to win the sectional championship, he would be facing a fourth-place finisher from another sectional instead of a third-place finisher.
“It makes my draw that much more difficult,” he said. “It really doesn't hurt me. Now it gives me more of a revenge motive. It helps put things in perspective.
“When you're undefeated, what always happens is in big tournaments people always say, "I want to beat that guy.' You're always a marked man. Now, I don't have to worry. I can just go out and have fun.”
Williams leads a school-record 12 qualifiers to the district tournament, where the Cavaliers finished sixth last season.
“I would think we've got a chance to improve on that,” Meinking said. “My objective — what we preach to the kids — is "If you get to the semifinals, you only need to win one more match to qualify for the state.' So their focus should be on winning the first two matches.”
Meinking expects Purcell Marian's strongest competition to come from St. Paris Graham, Springfield Shawnee, Indian Lake and Preble Shawnee.
Bob Kearns, whose Madeira team matched Purcell Marian's six sectional crowns by winning the Batavia sectional, expects Oakwood, Versailles and Lakota sectional-champion Reading to mount strong challenges in Division III. The Blue Devils also claimed six sectional championships.
“Reading's always in the mix,” Kearns said. “They have six or seven seasoned veterans who will pose problems for everybody.”
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